The Cruise Examiner for 1st September 2014..

The RMS Athenia, seen here leaving Montreal, was torpedoed by the German U-Boat U-30 on September 3, 1939, the first day of the Second World War

Seventy-five years ago this week saw the first sinking of the first passenger ship during the Second World War. Parts of this story are now forgotten but there to rescue many of her passengers was a rather interesting yacht. Meanwhile, the U-Boat commander that sank the ship lost his life after sinking another ship managed by the same line. In that event, the Royal Navy captured its first Enigma machine, something that changed the course of the war. Elsewhere, Royal Caribbean International last week announced a number of technical advances for its new “Quantum” class ships, while Hapag-Lloyd Cruises’ Hanseatic set a record for the northernmost position ever reached by a passenger ship.